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Evaluation of retinal microvascular structures by optical coherence tomography angiography in primary Sjögren’s syndrome

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Abstract

Objectives

There are insufficient data in the literature on how retinal capillaries are affected in primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the retinal capillary density (CD) in PSS using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Methods

In this case–control study, 26 eyes from 13 PSS patients and 39 eyes from 20 healthy controls (HCs) were included. The CD in the regions of the superior capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP) and radial peripapillary capillaries (RPC) as well as assessment parameters of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) were examined by OCTA.

Results

The mean CD (%) was 50.2 ± 4.2 and 50.5 ± 3.4 in the SCP (p = 0.904), 49.2 ± 7.5 and 53.9 ± 5.7 in the DCP (p = 0.006) and 50.8 ± 2.1 and 49.8 ± 2.2 in the RPC (p = 0.088) regions in patients with PSS and HCs, respectively. In patients with PSS and HCs, the mean sizes of the FAZ were 0.243 ± 0.07 mm2 and 0.283 ± 0.13 mm2 (p = 0.142), and the mean sizes of the non-flow area were 0.480 ± 0.11 mm2 and 0.509 ± 0.13 mm2, respectively (p = 0.359). The correlation coefficients (Rho) of retinal CD in the SCP, DCP and RPC regions with disease duration were − 0.545 (p = 0.004), − 0.389 (p = 0.050) and − 0.795 (p < 0.001), respectively.

Conclusion

The retinal CD in PSS is lower than that in the healthy population in deep retinal capillaries, and retinal CD shows a negative correlation with disease duration in PSS.

Clinical trials registration

This study was not registered to clinicaltrials.gov.

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Data availability

Authors do not have consent to share study data.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mehmet Erol Can for his contribution in collecting data and writing the manuscript.

Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Bursa Yüksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Bursa, Turkey

    Neslihan Parmak Yener

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Bursa Yüksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Bursa, Turkey

    Koray Ayar

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  1. Neslihan Parmak Yener
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Contributions

Design of the work; NPY, KA, data collection; NPY, statistical analysis; KA interpretation of data for the work; NPY, KA, drafting the work; NPY, KA, final approval of the version to be published; NPY, KA.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koray Ayar.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. There is no funding.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the local ethics committee (KAEK: 2018/12–33), and written consent was obtained from the participants. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration.

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Yener, N.P., Ayar, K. Evaluation of retinal microvascular structures by optical coherence tomography angiography in primary Sjögren’s syndrome. Int Ophthalmol 42, 1147–1159 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-02100-9

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